Structural failures

Power lines and a tree block Rainbow Forest Road during a thunderstorm, Thursday, Aug. 2, 2018 in Lynchburg, Va. The National Weather Service said up to six inches of rain fell within hours, filling College Lake near Lynchburg beyond capacity. The service says a failure of the College Lake Dam could flood parts of Lynchburg with 17 feet of water in just seven minutes. (Taylor Irby /The News & Advance via AP)

LYNCHBURG, Va. (AP) — People in Virginia who were evacuated after heavy rains led to an overflowing dam may not be able to return to their homes for another day. Officials in Lynchburg said it could be at least 24 hours before people evacuated from more than 100 houses could return. The National...

A man paddles his boat through a flooded village in the Samamxay district, Attapeu province, Laos on Thursday, Jul. 26, 2018. Authorities and the builder are investigating why a dam in southeastern Laos collapsed earlier this week, killing at least two dozen people and leaving over a hundred missing. (AP Photo/Hau Dinh)

In the image made from aerial video taken Tuesday, July 24, 2018, villages are inundated with floodwaters from a collapsed dam in Attapeu province, southeastern Laos. The KPL news agency said Wednesday on its website that officials in Attapeu province also reported more than 1,300 houses damaged by flooding after an auxiliary dam at the Xepian-Xe Nam Noy hydropower project partially collapsed on Monday night. (LNT via AP)

ATTAPEU, Laos (AP) — Rescuers searched Wednesday for scores of villagers left missing when part of a newly built hydroelectric dam broke in southeastern Laos, flooding the surrounding countryside and killing at least 24 people, officials said. Thousands of people lost their homes when the South...

Villagers take refuge on a rooftop above flood waters from a collapsed dam in the Attapeu district of southeastern Laos, Tuesday, July 24, 2018. The official Lao news agency KPL reported Tuesday that the Xepian-Xe Nam Noy hydropower dam in Attapeu province collapsed Monday evening, releasing large amounts of water that swept away houses and made more than 6,600 people homeless. (Attapeu Today via AP)

BANGKOK (AP) — Massive flooding from a South Korean-constructed hydroelectric dam in Laos left several people dead and hundreds missing, state media said Tuesday. Rescue efforts were underway as top government officials rushed to the site and public appeals were launched for aid. The official Lao...